Renewable hope can rise from ashes

Since 1984, Eva Kor and her CANDLES group have been shining a bright light on the unspeakable inhumanity that occurred at Auschwitz and other death camps in the days of World War II when the Nazis tried to eliminate the Jewish culture, create a master race and dominate the planet through their abject evil.

Kor, a survivor of Josef Mengele’s diabolical experiments on young twins, went on to found the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute in 1995 — with considerable help from her husband, Mickey, also a survivor; her staff; her board of directors; and other supporters.

In 2003, a firebomber who was never apprehended, set fire to the museum building and destroyed irreplaceable photos, documents and exhibits that together told the story of Hitler’s reign of demented terror.

But before the final embers of that arson had burned out, Kor and her supporters had already rekindled the resolve to rebuild the museum from the ashes, grander than the original. A new museum opened in 2005, itself a statement against the violence that claimed the original building.

This story appears in the print edition of The Tribune. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.